


in the green north

by frausorge



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 01:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13602315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frausorge/pseuds/frausorge
Summary: "You'll have to come with me," Aravis whispered.





	in the green north

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blueberry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueberry/gifts).



> For blueberry - thanks for such a fun prompt! And many thanks to Lovelypoet for beta reading.

Following Lasaraleen through the paths of the palace garden, Aravis could not help wishing that her friend would move just a little faster. But Lasaraleen's steps were still shaky, and it was clear that further harsh words would do nothing more to brace her. So Aravis was forced to keep to the same tentative pace.

They had nearly reached the wall at the bottom when something - Aravis didn't get a clear look, but she thought it might have been a dog or perhaps a rather large cat \- darted out from a flowerbed and ran directly between Lasaraleen's ankles. To her credit, she did not cry out, but her feet scuffled and scraped through the gravel, and after a moment a voice from farther up called, "Who's there?"

Aravis had caught sight of the gate by now. She seized Lasaraleen by the wrist and dragged her along toward it. Lasaraleen was shaking worse than ever, so Aravis fumbled at the bolt till it opened and then pulled Lasaraleen through behind her. They ducked under some bushes and huddled between the scratching branches and the wall, trying to still their own breathing.

Footsteps approached on the inside of the garden, and then a loud yowling rose up into the night. "Those blasted cats," one voice said. 

"May Tash consign them to the outermost wastes," another voice answered, and the steps went away again.

"Oh no," Lasaraleen murmured. "Oh, my poor nerves. My poor heart! How shall I ever get home in this state? I'm sure to collapse before I reach the upper garden!"

Aravis did not bother answering, and indeed it would have been of no use if she had, for when she slipped back to the gate and tried it, she found the bolt had fallen back into place and could not be opened from the outside.

There was no time. She had to get to the Tombs as fast as she could, and she could not leave Lasaraleen there alone. "You'll have to come with me," Aravis whispered. She braced herself then for a fresh outburst. 

But Lasaraleen had gone solemn and silent in real shock. She sat still in the punt while Aravis rowed them up the river, and she pulled Aravis's veil mutely over her face before Aravis went forward to dismiss the groom holding Bree and Hwin.

"And who's this?" Shasta said after he had come forward too and he and Aravis and the horses had all greeted each other. He probably did not mean to be unfriendly, but he spoke like someone who has just spent an anxious night and day alone and then learned of an impending attack and battle ahead, and Aravis saw Lasaraleen flinch. 

"This is my friend Lasaraleen Tarkheena," Aravis said. "Hwin and Bree and I all owe our escape from the city to her aid."

Shasta still looked confused, but he said, "That was good of you," in a warmer voice, and Lasaraleen jerked her chin in a nod.

They rushed to set out toward Mount Pire, and it wasn't till they were already well on their way that Aravis realized it might have been more sensible to ask Bree rather than Hwin to carry two riders. But Hwin did not complain, and they continued pressing onward.

 

The morning after the battle at Anvard, after they had breakfasted with the Hermit, Hwin began urging Bree and the girls to set out again for Narnia. "After all," she said, "I thought it was Narnia we all wanted to get to."

"Well," Aravis said, "all except for Las."

"See! We shouldn't rush the Tarkheena," Bree said. "Let her have time to reflect and choose where she wants to go."

But Lasaraleen shook her head, giving Aravis a slightly fixed smile. "No need," she said. "I'll stick with you, darling. I couldn't possibly go back now, so I'm sure Narnia will be delightful."

Bree huffed at that. Lasaraleen agreed with him, though, when he talked of needing to look one's best and make a good impression upon entering society, and he gave her a more approving nod.

Then Aslan came among them.

After he had spoken to Hwin and Bree and Aravis, he turned to where Lasaraleen was hanging back behind them. "Come forward, daughter," he said.

"Sir," Lasaraleen said shakily, "I think you must be mistaken in me. I have served Zardeenah and Tash all my life, and have never known you."

"I see and honor all faithful service," Aslan said. "And you have met me before, though you did not know me, in the garden of the Tisroc's palace. See that you do not linger in idleness, but set your feet on the forward path, and be of good courage, dear one."

Lasaraleen looked at him with wide eyes but made no further answer. And a moment later, after promising them another visitor, Aslan was gone.

 

Shasta, or Cor as they now had to call him, was very urgent with them to stay with him and his newfound father in Anvard. Aravis was feeling more and more guilty about having dragged Lasaraleen away from Tashbaan, and tried hard to find out where her friend wanted to go next under the circumstances. But Lasaraleen still declined to express a real preference. "Whatever you like, darling," she said. "I'll go where you go."

For her part, Aravis did not feel quite easy about what Cor had told them of King Lune's wish to have ladies living at his court again. Still it was a kind invitation, and staying there would give her and Lasaraleen time to get their feet underneath them before they had to begin using their money and jewels to pay their own way. So it was agreed. And when they arrived at Anvard, they found they had been so firmly expected that a suite of rooms had already been made up for them, with Queen Lucy standing ready to accompany them into the town of Vardwil where Lune's courtiers lived, to borrow some clothes from their wives and daughters.

The feast on the lawn that night was glorious, though by the time Queen Lucy began to tell her story Aravis was barely able to hear and retain any of what she said. When Aravis laid her head on the rather firm pillow of her new bed, her dreams were full of bewildering colors and movement that she could not follow.

 

In the morning Aravis and Lasaraleen were wakened somewhat earlier than they might have wished in order to bid farewell to the party setting back out for Narnia. Queen Lucy beckoned to Aravis and put her own bow and quiver into Aravis's hands. 

"It is too generous a gift," Aravis said. But Lucy smiled.

"Nonsense," she said, "I have others at home in Cair Paravel, while you had to leave your own behind, and much more besides. So let this be a start at restoring what you lost."

Aravis began trying to thank her then, but Lucy waved that off too. "Use it wisely and soberly," she said, "and that is all the thanks I will ask. And if you will let a new acquaintance say one thing more-" Aravis nodded, of course- "then look to your friend," Lucy said. "She will need your strength, though she has a brave soul and a true heart, to have followed you so far."

"She had no choice," Aravis muttered.

"Did she not? How many times, by your telling, might she not have raised a cry to denounce you and be carried safely back to the Tisroc's court herself? Yet she chose to help you."

Aravis bit her lip.

"There is always a choice," Lucy told her. "Remember that."

Aravis nodded again. Lucy bent to kiss Aravis's forehead. Then she turned away to speak to Cor and King Lune.

Aravis had to say goodbye to Bree next, and then she flung her arms around Hwin's neck and clung there for as long as she could, while Hwin stood patiently and nosed at Aravis's hair.

"Thank you again for saving my life that day in the grove," Aravis said. "I hope you find your relatives in Narnia quickly."

Hwin blew out a warm breath over Aravis's face. "I'll send you word as soon as I do," she said. Then Aravis had to let go and step back, while Hwin and Bree took their places among the talking horses of the Narnian party. 

As the Narnians began to march out through the gate, Lasaraleen took Aravis's hand and squeezed it. Aravis squeezed back.

 

Cor came to see them the next night after supper and sprawled out in an armchair in the sitting room. 

"Ugh," he said, "if I'd known how much work it would take to be a free Northerner, I might have just as well stayed where I was. At least mending nets didn't take so much memorization."

Aravis was sympathetic at first, for King Lune did seem set on catching up every year of education Cor had missed, all at once. But Cor went on about it so long that her sympathy eventually began to wear out. 

"At least you're getting to see some new things," she put in after Cor had exclaimed once more about everything Lune was asking him to learn.

"That's all very well for _you_ to say," Cor snapped. "Tell me, are you already tired of sitting at your ease with your feet up?"

"Yes, actually," Aravis said. "You think I wouldn't rather be out doing something?"

"I think if you'd ever had to do a real day's work in your life, you wouldn't take rest so much for granted."

Aravis squirmed, for there was a sting of truth in that, but it still put her hackles up. "I don't take it for granted," she said. "But having nothing but rest all day is like eating candy for every meal."

Cor snorted at that, and a moment later his temper had subsided again. "Oh, I'm sorry, Aravis," he said. "I didn't mean to snap. I'm just so tired."

"It's fine," she said. Lasaraleen, who had kept quiet while Aravis and Cor were arguing, smiled politely as well. 

"Well," Cor said. "See you tomorrow."

Aravis nodded.

 

The next day a delegation of young ladies came from Vardwil to visit Aravis and Lasaraleen and welcome them to Archenland - or at least, that was their stated purpose. They spent the better part of the afternoon drinking tea, eating the cakes that had been sent up from the castle's kitchens, and gossiping to each other about what they planned to wear to the next ball and who might ask them to dance. Lasaraleen laughed loudly at their stories, but Aravis felt a headache coming on and lay down on her bed as soon as they left.

The same group was announced again a few days later. Aravis threw an apologetic glance at Lasaraleen and slipped out a side door of their suite before the girls could come in. She got a little lost in the corridors, but finally found her way out to the courtyard. From there she amused herself by wandering in every direction till she had found the stables, the kennels, the kitchen gardens, the pleasure garden, the shooting range, the parade ground, and the armory. She was terribly hot and sweaty when she ventured to return, but she felt a thousand times better than she had the day before.

 

She found Lasaraleen sitting in the window seat next to a pile of several bolts of cloth. "What's this?" Aravis said.

Lasaraleen stretched her foot out and prodded at the fabric with her toes. "A gift from Lady Rolla," she said, though she did not sound particularly pleased. "They were all worried that we'd have nothing to wear to the ball, so she brought us some cloth to have dresses made."

"That was kind," Aravis said. "Wasn't it?" The pile looked sumptuous, silk and velvet as fine as any Aravis could recall seeing in Calormen.

"Oh, certainly. It's just - those colors will make us look so sallow. Everything they have is meant for their complexions."

"Ah," Aravis said.

"But it doesn't matter!" Lasaraleen said, getting to her feet. "A new dress is a new dress regardless, don't you think? Which piece do you like best?"

"You choose first," Aravis said. It seemed like the least she could do.

 

Now that she knew where to find the shooting range, Aravis went out on the next fine morning to practice with her new bow.

"Very good, my lady," someone said, and she looked up to find the captain of the archers' corps watching from the side. "You have excellent aim for a hunter."

Aravis raised her eyebrows. "But?"

"But to aim at one's quarry in the forest is one thing, and to aim at one's enemy in the heat of battle is another."

"And you think I cannot?" Aravis said.

He smiled. "I think you have not been trained." She couldn't help dropping her gaze. "Do you wish to undertake this training?"

Aravis lifted her head again and stuck her chin out. "I do."

"Very good, recruit. Report to the west courtyard tomorrow at dawn."

She swallowed hard. "Aye, sir," she said, Archenland-style, and he smiled and left the range. 

 

"These trousers are so uncomfortable," Aravis said, taking off her uniform one day near the end of her second week of training.

"Of course they are, darling, they're cut for a man," Lasaraleen said. "Here, let me see." She walked in a circle, studying Aravis from all sides, then stepped closer and pinched the loose fabric of the waistband between her fingers. "What you need is something more like this," and she took up a slate and began to sketch.

Aravis couldn't make much of the lines, but Lasaraleen tapped her thumb on the edge of the slate when she finished and nodded, satisfied. "These shouldn't be too difficult, if you can get more of that cloth," she said. "I'll get Solly to help make them up. She's just finished our dresses for the ball, so she'll have time."

"I'll ask the quartermaster," Aravis said.

 

The ball was a disaster. Aravis found herself quarreling with Cor the whole evening. To begin with, he asked her to be his partner for the very first dance, just after he had been formally introduced to the assembly as King Lune's eldest son. Aravis caught sight of Rolla and the other girls as she took Cor's arm, and their faces were a picture of disappointment, anger, and scorn. 

"You ought to have asked a local girl first," Aravis murmured as they went round the room.

"But I like _you_ ," Cor said. "I've been spending all my days doing what I'm told a king must. Can't I choose what I like just for once? Just in this?"

"Thank you - but I wish you hadn't, though. I'm afraid it's going to stir up ill will."

"Fine," Cor said. "I'll ask the Vardwil girls next."

"Fine," Aravis said.

He kept to his word, turning away from her as soon as the music ended. Aravis looked for Lasaraleen, but found herself accosted by one of her fellow archers, who asked her for the next dance. It wasn't till some time later that Aravis was able to look again and discover Lasaraleen sitting with her hands folded in a corner. She had done the best she could with the cloth they’d been given, and Aravis thought she looked lovely, but she also looked distinctly bored. Aravis turned around and made her way back through the crowds. 

"Cor," she said when she reached him, "could you ask Lasaraleen to dance?"

"Oh, now you want me to dance with a Calormene?" Cor said.

Aravis pressed her lips together and kept silent.

"Sorry," Cor said. "Of course I will, if you'll dance with me again after."

"All right," Aravis said.

She was pleased to see another courtier leading Lasaraleen out onto the floor after Lasaraleen and Cor had bowed and parted. But she was less pleased when Cor returned to claim her hand with a triumphant look in his eye.

"Who were you dancing with earlier?" he asked as the music began again. "You seemed to be laughing a lot."

"Some of the others from the archers' corps. They were teasing me for wearing a dress."

"What?"

"Well, usually they only see me in uniform." 

Cor's face clouded over, and the conversation went downhill rapidly from there. By the time Aravis finished explaining that she had joined the corps because she wanted to, that she enjoyed it, and that wishing for an occupation did not mean she was any less grateful for Anvard's generous hospitality, she was thoroughly ready to leave the ballroom and retreat to the quiet of her own room.

 

One morning toward the end of the summer, the watch raised a cry for the approach of a rider from the south. Everyone gathered on the parapets to see him draw near. He wore full Calormene armor, but he was carrying a white pennant, and as soon as he was close enough to be heard, he stopped his horse and shouted, "I come upon a peaceful errand, my lords. I bear a letter for Lasaraleen Tarkheena, late of Mezreel."

Then the portcullis was lifted and he was allowed to enter the courtyard with a good deal of bustling about. Lasaraleen and Aravis went into a reception room, and soon he was brought in and handed over the letter.

Lasaraleen broke the seal and opened it. From what Aravis could see, the message was quite short, but Lasaraleen looked at it for a long time. Finally she folded the paper back up again.

"May your servant have the honor of carrying an answer back to my master?" the messenger said, somewhat impatiently.

Lasaraleen pressed her lips together. "Yes," she said. She pulled out the pouch that held her Calormene coins and put it into the messenger's hand. "Take these crescents, and tell the Tarkaan that I hear his word and bow to his will."

The messenger inclined his head.

"Won't you stay and refresh yourself?" Lasaraleen said. "We can find a place for you in the castle overnight."

But the messenger visibly suppressed a shudder. "You are a jewel of graciousness and a fountain of generosity, O Tarkheena," he muttered. "I must make haste to return to my master."

"As you like," Lasaraleen said.

When he had gone, Aravis moved to sit next to Lasaraleen, who was turning the letter back and forth between her hands. "What news did you get?" Aravis asked. "Do you want to tell me?"

"It's from my – from the man who was my husband. He has dissolved our bond."

"Oh," Aravis said.

"Oh, it's all right!" Lasaraleen said. "I was expecting something like this. Now it's settled, that's all." She smiled, but Aravis thought it looked forced.

"Will you miss him?"

Lasaraleen shrugged. "Yes, I suppose so... He was kind, as husbands go. He bought me everything I asked for. And he was good to me in bed. Oh, don't look so shocked, darling! Even a maiden like you may know how husbands and wives enjoy each other's company in bed." Then she sobered. "But my leaving will have damaged his reputation at court. The Tisroc would never count him loyal while he suffered his wife to live among the barbarians. I know he had no choice but to disown me.”

”He had a choice,” Aravis said.

Lasaraleen curled up one corner of her mouth. “Well,” she replied, “let’s say I understand why he made it, then. Now he can remarry and rebuild his fortunes. And I'm here together with you, and isn't that lovely!"

Aravis couldn't help smiling. "It is, actually. It's so much nicer facing all the unfamiliar things together. I'm glad that you're here."

"See!" Lasaraleen said, and she wrapped her arms tightly around Aravis. Aravis found herself returning the embrace with more enthusiasm than she ever had in Mezreel or Tashbaan.

 

Late that night, Aravis woke to the sound of muffled crying. She had been so deeply asleep that it took her several minutes to get her bearings and place the noises as coming from Lasaraleen's room.

"Las?" Aravis said quietly, pushing the door ajar. Lasaraleen was sitting hunched over in her bed, her face buried in her palms. Aravis went and sat next to her. "Las, what is it?"

Lasaraleen sucked in a hitching breath. "I miss Kikosh!" she sobbed out.

"Kikosh?" 

"My - my monkey!" 

Aravis blinked. Still half-muddled with sleep, she couldn't think of anything comforting to say. She put out her hand and began rubbing Lasaraleen's back in long, slow strokes. 

By and by Lasaraleen quieted and slumped onto her side on her pillows. Aravis went on petting the warm curve of Lasaraleen's shoulders till she was sure Lasaraleen was asleep.

 

A few weeks later, Aravis received a letter of her own, though with much less fanfare. "It's from Hwin!" she said.

"Oh, that's wonderful, darling! What does she say?"

"She's found her family, some cousins, at least. She's staying with them for now and they're sending messages farther north to see if they can get word to her sister."

"What marvelous news," Lasaraleen said. "I'm so glad for her."

"And-" Aravis paused. "She's invited us to come visit her there. Or even to come live with her family, if we want to."

"Do you want to?" Lasaraleen asked. 

Aravis bit her lip. "I'm not sure," she said. "What do you think?" 

"Well, I know how much you love Hwin," Lasaraleen said. "And how much you don't love living in a palace. But we've just begun to get settled here. I think it's worth staying a bit longer to see what it's like when it's not all so new."

"That's true," Aravis said. 

"Besides, it's very kind of Hwin to make the offer, but these, ah, talking horses in Narnia, do they keep houses where humans can live?"

"I don't know," Aravis said. "Perhaps they have stables?" She and Lasaraleen blinked at each other. "I'm sure they would give us the finest - straw!" she got out, and then she could no longer hold back her laughter. Lasaraleen burst into giggles too, which set Aravis off again just as she was about to calm down, and they sat there laughing together for quite some time. 

 

One evening after dismissal all the archers lined up and shuffled past the quartermaster. "What's going on?" Aravis asked Farrin as they took their place in line.

"It's payday," he said.

"What?"

Farrin stared at her. "Every soldier in the King's corps receives a stipend once a quarter. Didn't you know?"

"Oh," Aravis said. "I- I didn't realize it was today."

"No, you didn't realize it at all!" he said, laughing. "You were going to serve for free! So noble!"

"All right, all right," she grumbled.

"I'll take your pay if you have no need of it."

"Not a chance," she told him, and then it was her turn.

 

Back in their rooms, Aravis found Lasaraleen and Solly bent over the cut-out pieces of another pair of trousers. "Are those for me?" she said.

"No, darling, don't be greedy." Lasaraleen straightened up and pushed the long, shining waves of her hair back from her face. "Lady Rolla saw you in yours and asked if she could have some like them for her next hunt."

"Ah," Aravis said. She hadn't thought Lasaraleen and Rolla particularly liked each other, but Lasaraleen looked busy and content over her work in a way she hadn't for some time, so Aravis was not disposed to question her.

 

Cor, on the other hand, was more discontent than ever. "I must say," he told Aravis one evening when they had stolen away from Lune and Corin for a private chat, "it does seem unfair that I ran away from my drudgery under Arsheesh and went through all those adventures and saved Archenland from its deadliest danger, only to be yoked into a whole new set of duties and burdens. It feels like I'm even less free than I was before."

"I do see what you mean," Aravis said. "Aren't there compensations, though? Knowing that the kingdom is yours?"

"My _responsibility_ ," he said. "And Corin just laughs and says he's so glad it isn't his anymore."

"I'm sorry," Aravis said.

"That's why I need you," Cor said. "You make everything better."

Aravis tried to smile. "I'm sure you'll have a great many friends to help you," she said. Cor sighed again.

 

Lasaraleen was sitting in the window seat turning something shiny back and forth between her fingers. "What's that?" Aravis said.

"The first coin I ever earned."

Aravis came and sat down at the other side of the window. "How did that come about?"

"I designed a gown for Lady Malena, you know, Paralla's mother, and she insisted upon paying for it." Lasaraleen gave an unladylike snort. "I told her I wouldn't dream of charging her, but she said she'd never cheated a dressmaker yet and didn't mean to start now."

"It doesn't look like she pays her dressmakers very well, though," Aravis said, looking at the coin. 

"Oh, I gave most of it to Solly. She did the sewing, after all. I tried to give her all of it, but she said designing and cutting was work too, so-" Lasaraleen flipped the coin into the air and caught it again. "It seems you're not the only one who can earn pay anymore."

"Well, dressmaker," Aravis said. "What will you buy with your pay?"

"I don't know! Tomorrow is market day in Vardwil. Come with me and let's see what's for sale."

Aravis grinned. "All right," she said.

 

They combed over all the stalls in the market square, and finally Lasaraleen bought a basket of raspberries fresh from the forest. Then she and Aravis sat down on the rim of the fountain and ate till the basket was empty and their lips and fingers were stained red.

 

After that, however, Lasaraleen began saving the money she received, building up a store bit by bit until she had enough to order the dyes she missed from Calormen. 

"Look, darling," she told Aravis the day the packages arrived, holding open a waxed paper packet so Aravis could see the fine, rich powder inside. "Just look." In this form the dye was almost too dark to tell what color it would be, but all Aravis really needed to see was Lasaraleen's delighted, gloating face. 

"It's wonderful, Las," Aravis said.

 

Lasaraleen had some cloth dyed in the familiar shades of their childhood, and even Aravis, who had never paid much attention to what made certain clothes suit someone better than others, could see that the new dresses set off Lasaraleen's looks in a way the borrowed ones never had. Lasaraleen made Aravis a new dress too, to wear at the royal dinners to which Cor kept inviting her while King Lune smiled approvingly. When Aravis put on the finished dress for the first time, Lasaraleen sat with her head cocked to the side and simply looked at her for a long minute.

"Well?" Aravis said.

Lasaraleen smiled, and it was a true one, not the thin, forced shape Aravis hated to see, but nevertheless it didn't seem to come easily. "You look beautiful, darling," Lasaraleen said finally. "Have a wonderful time."

Aravis sighed, for she and Cor still seemed to snap at each other twice for every time they laughed. "I'll try," she said.

 

Lasaraleen also began experimenting with new mixtures of the dyes to make colors that would suit the Archenlanders. They proved very popular, and suddenly she had more orders than she could handle. She hired Solly's cousins to do the additional sewing. Between the new customers and the new workers, the suite that had felt grand and spacious with just Lasaraleen and Aravis in it began to feel positively cramped during the days.

"I wish we had a separate workroom," Lasaraleen said one night when the door had closed behind Solly. "There just isn't space here for all the pieces we're working on."

"Well," Aravis said, "why don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Couldn't you take a room in town and have Solly and the girls meet you to work there? Or even a whole shop?" 

"Hm," Lasaraleen said. "I suppose I'd have to inquire about rents."

Aravis nodded. Lasaraleen turned aside then and picked up her hairbrush, but she was unusually quiet during her nightly hundred strokes through her hair.

 

The captain of the corps pulled Aravis aside one evening in the summer. "Do you know, Aravis," he said, "today marks a year since you began your training."

Aravis blinked. "I hadn't thought of it, sir."

"Well, it is so. I may tell you now that I did not at first expect you to complete the year. Yet you have, and have done as well as any recruit – nay, better. If we were called into battle today, I would not hesitate to place you among my ranks."

"Thank you, sir," she said. 

"I would like for you to begin the training for mounted archers next. Will you accept?"

"Aye, sir." 

"Excellent. Report to Sergeant Norren next week, then. And you'll begin receiving the increased pay next quarter."

Aravis smiled. "Thank you, sir," she repeated. 

Her head as she walked back to the castle was full of the rhythm of cantering and galloping that she hadn't felt since that long ride from the Tombs. Of course no other horse could ever take Hwin's place, especially a non-talking horse that would submit to being ridden. Yet the prospect made her feel light of heart, and of foot as well.

 

Her good mood lasted until she had dressed for dinner and arrived at Cor's suite to find she was the only guest there. Then she had to brace herself, for it was when they were alone that Cor gave in to his heaviest complaints. 

The food was delicious, at least, and after they had eaten they went out onto the balcony to breathe the cool night air. They leaned their elbows side by side on the railing. Cor seemed thoughtful, uncharacteristically quiet. 

After a few minutes, however, he cleared his throat. "Aravis," he said, "I invited just you tonight because I wanted to talk to you alone. I-" He swallowed again. "I want to tell you that – that I love you, and I want you to be mine forever. Will you marry me?"

"Cor-" she said, but before she could answer properly, he pulled her close and kissed her. His lips were soft against hers, his chest was solid under her palms, and his hands felt thrillingly hot on her bare shoulders, and yet her heart sank within her.

"Cor," she said again, pushing back from him, "I cannot be a court lady. That's nearly the first thing I ever told you about myself."

"I'm not asking you to be a lady-in-waiting!" he said. "I'm asking you to rule at my side. You won't even have to leave the corps - you can be another archer queen, like Lucy and Susan. Archenland will have one of its own at last. They'll make songs about you."

But Aravis shook her head. "I'll be a loyal archer in your army all my life," she said. "But I can't be your queen."

"Aravis!" he said, and his face was stormy with anger and hurt.

"I'm sorry," she said, and slipped back out through the archway.

 

She lay down on her bed, but slept only fitfully, and when she woke for the third time she got up and went to sit in the window seat instead. By and by the window began to lighten, and then Aravis heard Lasaraleen get up and come into the sitting room.

"Aravis," Lasaraleen said. "What's wrong?"

"Cor asked me to marry him."

Lasaraleen paused. "Why, congratulations, darling!" she said. "How exciting! I'm so happy for the two-"

"I told him no," Aravis said.

After another breath's pause, Lasaraleen came near and cupped her hand over Aravis's shoulder. Aravis leaned into the warmth of her touch. "Did you really?" Lasaraleen said. "Why?"

"I never wanted to be part of a court. You know I declined to be a grand vizier's wife, let alone queen. I can't live any longer in this castle, Las! Maybe I should go on to Narnia after all."

Lasaraleen rubbed softly at Aravis's arm. "I have an idea," she said. "Maybe you don't have to go so far." Aravis turned her head to look up at her. "The shop I'm going to rent in Vardwil, it has rooms above it – living quarters. They aren't very elegant, and even so I can't afford them on my own. But if we pool our money - I mean, if you wanted to - then I think we'd have enough. We could live there together, you and I."

" _Las_ ," Aravis said. 

Lasaraleen smiled at her. "Do you want to go see the place?" 

"Yes!" Aravis said. She jumped up from the seat, and they pulled on shoes and cloaks against the early morning chill. Then they tumbled out of the suite, all the way down through the corridors and the east courtyard and out through the market gate, to the road into town.

 

The floors were incredibly dusty, and the windows were covered in long streaks of dirt, but the sunlight poured in around them to flood the room.

"It needs a thorough cleaning, of course," Lasaraleen said. "And perhaps some fresh paint, and-"

Aravis caught Lasaraleen's hands in hers. "It's perfect," she said. "I can't thank you enough."

"Darling," Lasaraleen said. Her voice had gone hoarse, and Aravis thought suddenly how long it had been since she had heard Lasaraleen say that to anyone else.

"My dear Las," she answered. 

She squeezed Lasaraleen's fingers even more tightly, and when she bent forward, Lasaraleen met her in their first kiss.


End file.
